Al-Mu'tasim Brigade

The al-Mu'tasim Brigade was a Free Syrian Army faction that was founded on 4 August 2015 during the Syrian Civil War. The brigade was founded in the town of Mare in northern Aleppo Governorate, Syria, and it was named for the Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tasim. The brigade was trained and equipped by the United States, and it supported the Syrian peace process; however, it opposed the US-Russia peace proposals. The group called for "freedom and justice", leading to a rivalry forming with the Islamist al-Nusra Front, which sought to form a caliphate in Syria. In 2016, the group had 500 fighters, but this number had doubled by 2017. The group was allied with the USA, Turkey, the Sultan Murad Division, Liwa Ahfad Saladin, the Hamza Division, and Sham Legion, while it was enemies with the Islamic State and the Syrian Democratic Forces.